Jury will decide fate of Lebanon stabbing suspect

NEW LONDON — Jurors have started weighing the evidence against Matthew Hanson in his attempted murder trial.

Hanson, 32, of Pocasset, Mass., stabbed Shane Crawford on April 28, 2012, outside the Lebanon home of Hanson’s former girlfriend, Annie Morris.

Hanson claims the stabbing was in self-defense. Assistant State’s Attorney David Smith said Hanson was looking for a confrontation that night.

In his closing argument Thursday morning in New London Superior Court, Smith drew the attention of the jury of four men and two women to a statement Hanson made to state police recorded on a dashboard camera video.

“He said he should have just left. And you know what, he could have,” Smith said.

In his closing argument, Attorney Michael Blanchard, who with attorney Brian Fiengo defended Hanson, said that Crawford was the aggressor.

“He’s proud of the fact that he’s a brawler,” Blanchard said about Crawford, who was Morris’ neighbor. Blanchard said Crawford admitted to drinking 19 beers plus whiskey and to smoking marijuana that night. “He’s going down there because he wants to confront Matthew Hanson.”

According to trial testimony, Hanson arrived at Morris’ house, which was on a horse farm off Beaumont Highway, shortly after 1 a.m., argued with her, took her cellphone and several other items and left.

He drove away, then decided to return. A key question jurors must consider is what his intent was. Blanchard said Hanson returned to apologize and return Morris’ stolen things. Smith said Hanson was angry.

Hanson and Crawford, who had volunteered to remove Hanson from the property, confronted each other after exiting their cars on a long narrow farm lane. The two men, who were the only witnesses to the encounter, told different stories about what happened.

After Crawford told Hanson to leave, “Shane Crawford indicates the defendant rushes at him, puts him in a bear hug and begins to stab him,” Smith said.

Hanson reached around to stab Crawford seven times in the back while the two men were “belly to belly,” according to trial testimony.

Blanchard said Hanson fled his car, fearing Crawford would collide with him, then after Crawford stopped short in front of him, tried to return. Crawford pinned Hanson against his car, Blanchard said, and put a forearm against Hanson’s throat, cutting off his breathing so that Hanson feared he would black out. Blanchard said Hanson got his knife out of his pocket and stabbed Crawford out of fear and panic.

Smith questioned how Hanson, pinned against his car and unable to breath, could have removed the knife from its sheath in his pocket.

“He was stabbing, stabbing, stabbing — seven times,” Smith said. “His version of the facts does not add up to the actual facts of the case.”

Blanchard said the state police botched several parts of the investigation after leaping to the conclusion that Hanson was guilty. They thought “since there was a stabbing, there must be a crime,” he said.

The police failed to preserve three additional videos that showed what happened that night. In addition, police did not investigate who left likely traces of blood found on the door of Hanson’s car and shown in a crime scene photo, as well as letting a record of missed calls and a voicemail on Morris’ phone be erased.

Blanchard said the lost evidence would have helped Hanson’s case. “Now the state wants to have the benefit of losing the evidence,” he told jurors, saying “This is called doubt. That is reasonable doubt. … He should be found not guilty.”

Before the closing arguments, Judge Barbara Jungbloed rejected a defense motion to dismiss the case because of the missing evidence. She did instruct jurors that they may consider that the missing evidence would have helped Hanson.